ebooks Quilt of Souls by Phyllis Lawson in History

Review

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Absolutely must read for anyone who enjoys history ( His-Story)By reneeHaving grown up in a family of various races and coming from other countries. I fell in love with this book. It took me back to a time of my grandparents house in the carribean; to read these stories brought back my own grandparents in vivid color. It will eventually become a classic to be read in schools I hope. It tells not only of the pain of a small black girl; but the pain of every family as they struggle through life. Children growing up in various homes and cast aside like old shoes. How poverty doesn't really matter if you have someone to love you completely and unconditionally.You will laugh; you will cry and I promise you; you will smell the scents of your own grandmothers fried chicken; the sounds of the screen door slamming on the porch and the heat of a summer day in the south when you want nothing more than to be lazy and swing on the porch because the air makes it too hot to move.Phyllis is a tremendously talented author. It is my all time favorite book. Don't hesitate to purchase it; just buy it now and sit outside and enjoy the breeze while you pass the time listening to her life story.4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Book that is for all generations! I'm hiding under the house with you.By Doris Ann CarterI have already read this book twice and reading it again to my Granny Doris now. As we are sharing this amazing book together it has only brought us closer by hearing her stories as well as the books. As I read what I now call the GREATEST book I know! I cried along; laughed along; sang those great old hymnals along with ya'll; and remembered my own times with both my Grannies! Thank you for this book to bring a book that all ages could read to understand how important the older generations stories really are! Thanks Phyllis; you are a ray of light in my life and I felt like I was there hiding under the house with the chicken poop!0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Kind spirits passing throughBy Grant M. MenziesI still have a quilt that was made by my great-grandmother for my toddler father. The size of a child’s cot or crib; the quilt is small but heavy; built as it is out of dozens of pieces of heavy silks. It is also heavy with history. Nettie; its creator; was the daughter of a Union Army officer; and when she finished the quilt in about 1932-33; she was in her sixties. Yet the silks came from a man who had died almost a decade earlier. My great-grandfather was a dapper dresser; even crouching down to play with the family dog; he’s wearing spats and waistcoat with watch-chain; and one of his glorious silk ties. His daughter; my grandmother; preserved this baby quilt reverently; not just because it was beautifully made to warm and comfort her son by a woman she loved; but also because it was in some sense a symbol of her father’s spirit and of his love for children; though he had not lived to know the grandson who slept under the rainbow hues of his silk neckties.This old quilt came to mind often as I read "Quilt of Souls"; a memoir written by Phyllis Lawson. I call the book a memoir because it tells the story of Lawson`s coming of age—as a child sent south to Alabama from her parents’ Detroit home; overcrowded with children and with her mother’s frustration and rage; to live with her grandparents; Lula and Edgar; children of former slaves; on their farm; how Phyllis learned who she was through the stories and examples of Grandma Lula; Grandpa Edgar; and a passel of relatives that jump right off the page; only to be torn away from Lula and the farm; falling into a hell of drugs; truancy and teen homelessness back up north; only to join the armed forces and become the strong woman Phyllis realizes her grandmother raised her up to be. "Quilt of Souls" is a celebration of the joys; the passions; the agonies; that lived in each piece of patterned cloth Lula teaches Phyllis to sew into a quilt; which itself goes on a journey before finding home again. The book is also a monument to this grandmother; one of the most wonderfully sketched personalities it has been my privilege to meet in any book for a very long time. Like a quilt; in Lula I see pieces of my own grandmother—very likely; you will recognize pieces of your own in its pages—that woman less attached to us physically than our mothers are yet wholly connected in ways that defy logic and define the mystery of elective affinities shared only by a grandchild and a grandmother. Lula tells Phyllis that the chills she feels listening to her ghost stories “were kind spirits passing through... She said that passing through those invisible cobwebs were a sign that I’d walked in the midst of ghosts.” I felt that reading "Quilt of Souls".So; too; did my grandmother offer smiles and hugs when I came back to her; even from only being away for a day; as if I’d returned from a long and dangerous journey during which she feared for me but; at the same time; knew I’d keep safe; because her love could work miracles. Through those hugs and smiles; but above all through her quilt of souls—a talisman of future as well as past lives—Lula is waiting for Phyllis at her journey’s end; and she is also waiting for you. "Quilt of Souls" is about the healing power of love; which knows no fear; which never loses hope. Read this book. You won’t see quilts; or grandmothers; or life; in quite the same way ever again. (And if this book does not inspire a movie; Hollywood is crazier than I thought.)